Sometimes its not just a rock

da Hobo

da Hobo

Jr. Member
May 6, 2005
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Northern Illinois
Sometimes it's not just a rock

I live in a small and sometimes I think, unusual town here in northern Illinois. Over the last few months, as I have search my local area I have found one of the below items at the site of an older house, near the site of an old college dorm now converted to an office building, and the site of an old sandstone church (now deserted but still standing in a fashion). Anyone want to take a guess what these items (Stone blocks) in the pictures are? You may see them in your area and find them to be a possible site to sweep with your detector. Nana, you MUST know what these are. After all, Jeb would. Lol

I won?t leave you hang on this too long. If no one has an answer by later tonight, I?ll post the answer later tonight or tomorrow. Give it some thought why don?t you . . .

Hobo
 

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Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

???
hmmmm, ok, i give up!
maybe a place to sit or a marker of some sort.
first thought is its where they lay down the virgins before the sacrifice! :P
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

they look like benches to me hobo.
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

Reminds me of graves, i believe these are grave sites that were in place before a cemetary was started. I've seen a few out of place ones like those.
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

It was a very popular and sentimental notion to bury grandpa (or anyone else) under a large tree. I'm an engineer for the state highway department and a few years ago we came across something very similar. No stone marker, though, since the road had been built over the grave.
Before modern highway construction practices, it was typical to just lay the road gravel and pavement without doing any excavation below the existing ground. One of the contractors was digging a storm sewer trench down the middle of the road when one of the crew found a long bone....determined to be a femur. Work in the area (about a 500 ft. radius) was stopped and a few archeologists were brought. Most of the skeleton was found, accept the pelvis and skull (primary pieces used to determine the race and sex of the skeleton). Local tribes were also contacted to see if this was one of their burial sites.
Square nails and pieces of wood found were determined to be parts of the coffin. The nails were estimated to be turn of the century (1890's to 1910's). We carefully excavated the area for other graves to see if it was an undocumented cemetery. While we the arcs and contractor were doing this, I found the old plat maps and did a little research. I located an old stream, now dried up, but the channel remained on either side of the road. It was hard to convince the archeologists that this might be a single grave where a family buried grandpa under his favorite tree or near the stream at the back of the land. It wasn't until the excavation showed no more signs of other graves that the arcs determined (this would figure) this was an isolated incident and no other graves were likely to be in the area. Hmmm...wonder where they got that idea?
I was lucky (if you can call it that) enough to find the sole of one shoe and the heel of another. That pretty much confirmed it was male and white.
I was pretty surprised that the archeologists were only concerned about what was found and didn't seem to concerned about why. There's more to a dig than the hole.
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

Hobo!

Yeah....I think I'm gonna have to go with the grave marker theory too.... ;) .........

bet one of those could be Jeb's ancestors! :D

Nana ;)
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

I think they're big hunks of concrete left over after demolition so they used em for benches.
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

Good Morning to y'all!! :) Couple nice guess' here and an interesting tale from Arakroon also. I suspect there have been MANY surprises in big construction digs . . . . lots of history uncovered. Yes, good guess' but . . . . not right. However, Zeb and Hollowpointred were close. ;)

The top picture is by a old tree near the old college dorm . . . The second pic is about 150-200 ft from an old, still in use, cemetery (the old church with a replaced metal roof is in the background) . . . and the bottom pic is in town, by one of the older homes.

Nana, how on earth do you think Jeb's mother ever got up in her buggy?? :o :D Those slabs you see were placed there so people could easily get on and off a buggy or a horse if necessary!

For more years than I can count I saw that first slab near the old dorm and figured it was "just a cement slab", that it was "just there!" Who knows . . . . who cares?? Then one day I asked an old timer, someone who ACTUALLY went to our little local college and he told me "Well son, that was placed there for the young ladies to use to get in their buggies!!"

And NOW you know the rest of the story. ;) Now, of course I sort of considered what I was told a one time story, a local "tale" and sort of questioned it until I saw a number of others like it around the area and especially the one in the open, by the old church and that one is cut from stone.

And as far as grave markers, most of these have a smaller "lift" stone/slab under them to elevate them somewhat, out of character for grave markers. Plus the fact that at the church site the actual graveyard is just a short distance away.

Yep, until I hear a better explanation I go with the buggy mounting station. And if people gathered around them someone dropped something . . . . maybe even a horseshoe!! ;) I detected two of the three and found coins but nothing too old yet. However, there are other sites and other times. Like Arnold . . . . "I'll be back." 8) lol

I hope you enjoyed this little story and can use it on a hunt sometime . . .

Hobo
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

Try to find old pictures of the buggy days, you might see the stones in use. Be sure and post them.
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

:D
hehe, i liked that lil history lesson and agree with that it would be a stepping
stone for the ladies, that makes pefect sense!
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

Well....who'da thunk it!

Neat Hobo!

Thanks!!

;)
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

Don't you think that the slabs would be along the side of the street if they were used for getting on buggys? Considering that the two are under the tree I would see it as a nice place to sit and relax.

Matt
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

? ? ? ? I wonder why there's no step to the step?? Instead, I wonder if these could have been used as speaking platforms at public squares for Circuit Riders (Horse back riding Traveling Preachers) and perhaps public announcements, as well as for politicians and the like?? ? ? And just an observance. But the concrete slab in the top picture, has not been there that long. Certainly not a hundred years. The soil is far too high up the trunk of that tree. A sign that the slab is sitting on fill dirt.? ? ? HH
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

street might not be in the same place, and the cement slab has probably been moved above the fill so people can see it and sit on it and such.
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

To bad I hadnt seen this post earlier, I knew this one!!! We have all in my town, mine are just smaller, and have a crude form of a second step, found my only v nickle 2 in. beside one!!! Then I had other signals but I couldnt dig them because the block is on two people property and the guy that has 75% of the block will not let me MD it and watches me like a hawk when I get near it!!!
 

Re: Sometimes it's not just a rock

MXT_UP! said:
To bad I hadnt seen this post earlier, I knew this one!!! We have all in my town, mine are just smaller.....
Click to expand...

Ditto................we have the same here in Hudson Falls, NY

GL & HH,

DugHoles
 

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